Working cross-section or sub-region
rtweed
Posts: 0
OK, this isn't something I've seen in any 3D package before (not that I'm an expert), so it may not exist, but -
Is there some way to select a subset of the current model, for example to take a slice by intersecting a box through the part of interest, and then hide the rest of the model from view so only the visible part can be selected / edited?
This would make it soooo much easier to tweak certain things in the top or side views. As it is, if you want to work on something that's in the middle of the model, all the stuff around it gets in the way.
I don't really want to physically slice the model up into sections, edit them and try to paste together later, because I need to maintain the smooth edges, i.e., if I move some vertices around, I want the edges connecting them to other vertices to be maintained, even if I can't see them.
If this isn't possible in Hexagon but is possible in some other modelling tool you know of, please let me know which ones(s). Alternatively, I'm open to any suggestions for a good way to work around this problem, other than just continually orbiting around in the perspective view trying to make out what is where, without any depth perception.
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Comments
Hmm, looking for something else in the manual I found "Isolate Selection" (actually called "Show only selection") in the menu.
That does pretty much the opposite of what I want. It shows the whole current model and hides other models. I want to show more than one model, but only the selected faces / edges / vertices.
there is Hide selected faces under display. select your subsection invert selection then hide selected faces
Aha! I just discovered that myself as well, but didn't think it did what I wanted, because it only hides faces on the selected object. However, with a bit more playing around, I found that the faces stay hidden when you select another object, so you can just select one object, hide some faces, and then select another object and hide more faces.
It's a little bit more fiddly than what I had in mind (draw a box and only show whatever intersects that box, regardless of how many objects) but it does allow you to work on cross-sections. The only thing that's a bit awkward is if you want to work your way along, one ring at a time, checking each cross-section. With the idea in my head, you would simply move the visibility box along a bit, do some more tweaks, repeat. However with the hide faces tool, you need to restore all the faces, then start meticulously selecting the ones you want to hide, on multiple models (which might not be trivial if they don't follow the same cross-sectional layout, as happens to be the case with clothing on a mannequin).
Any suggestions for speeding up that workflow using the tools Hexagon has available? Of for that matter, are there any other modellers that have such tools?
you might want to make all of your selections and save them as material zones, that way you have all selections saved and only have to do it once. then move up the selections one by one by inverting selections and hiding to isolate the selection u r working on. dont know of another way. no automated way in any package im aware of. tedious yes. alternative none im aware of.
That's a good idea, for saving frequent selections. However, I'm currently more concerned with making quick one-off selections to tweak something.
I'm pretty sure this works in just about every other package, ever, whether 3D or 2D - for example in Photoshop you have different options after making a selection, for intersection, addition, subtraction, which all show a slightly different mouse pointer when you press the various control keys (off the top of my head I don't remember which is which). It's been a while since I did any 3D modelling but I'm pretty sure this is a common feature. I seem to remember doing it in Lightwave, unless I imagined it.
are u talking about booleans its under surface modeling?
No, I'm not talking about boolean modelling operations. It is the same principle, but only applied to the selection. I.e., if I lasso vertices [1, 2, 3, 4] and then do an intersection lasso of vertices [3, 4, 5] then the result is a selection of [3, 4]. However, all I have is a selection, I haven't actually changed anything (like welding two objects together, or subtracting one from the other, which is what the booleans you are talking about are for).
no nothing like that in hex that im aware of
Oops, I just realised that my response about booleans didn't make a lot of sense - I thought I was replying to a different question, which is seems I hadn't even posted yet (I left it open as a draft on another PC)!
Still, no a more correct answer for this is that I am looking for something a bit like booleans, but with non-permanent effects. So you would take a boolean intersection of the scene and work on that, but all the vertices remain connected the the ones that are currently hidden.